Gloria Estefan Loves Drag Queens! Exclusive Interview

February 7, 2012

The Cuban-born, Miami-raised “queen of Latin pop” is coming to mix with the gays this Friday night at the F*Word bash at Splash (50 West 17th Street).

And she’ll have a lot to talk about with them.

She’s set to do several appearances on Glee as Santana’s mother.

And her no. 1 dance hit “Hotel Nacional” has a Kenny Ortega-directed video featuring references to Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Birdcage, Cabaret, and Some Like It Hot.

Can it get any more dragtastic?

Here’s the chat I had with Gloria yesterday.

Hi, Gloria. The gays love you.

Gloria: They’ve been there for me every step of the way. Ahead of the way, actually.

So you’ll premiere your video at Splash. Are you Frank-N-Furter?

Gloria: No. I’m more like Glosferatu — that’s what I call my character. It’s a different take on Frank-N-Furter.

And there are drag queens in it?

Gloria: Oh, hell, yeah.

Maybe you’re really a gay man?

Gloria: [Laughs.] Probably. I have to turn into a drag-queen version of myself to get onstage. The makeup, the heels, the whole shebang. We made a little cult film about these cult films because “Hotel Nacional” is such a fancy song and I love those movies. They’re great movies — cult films — and they’ve broken the mold, not just because of the drag but because they’re really good. There’s always room for a drag queen!

Except in the Barracuda dressing room. Tell me about the album this comes off of — Miss Little Havana, co-produced by Pharrell Williams, with help from your husband, Emilio, and yourself.

Gloria: It’s a celebration of dance, starting back with disco and freestyle. It’s a very sexy record. There’s one song that divides the Pharrell Williams section from the Emilio section. By the end, I realized — because guys don’t listen to lyrics — there’s a definite story line here, so I told Pharrell. I put the order of the songs to make that come through even better.

Speaking of story lines, will your Glee appearances involve both acting and singing?

Gloria: Hopefully. It’s all about music. It would be a shame to be on there and not sing. Ryan Murphy is really excited about at least a two-show arc minimum, maybe more. I’m a big fan of his work — Nip/Tuck, American Horror Story. Glee not only brought back the music, but it introduced a whole new audience to great music from years back.